The invention relates to dry suits used by underwater divers and the method of making such suits.
Dry suits are generally made with a foam rubber core that is laminated on both faces with a nylon jersey knit glued to the core material. The sections of the suit are glued together and then sewn on the outside. In time, the adhesive becomes brittle. Stretching the suit as it is put on and taken off causes the adhesive to crack and water leaks through. This is normally referred to as "pin holing".
The normal procedure for correcting pin holing is to coat the inside of the seam with adhesive three or four times and then put a piece of nylon jersey knit rubber stripping over the seam. However, it is impossible to get complete penetration of the glue through the nylon jersey knit into the rubber foam underneath. Consequently, water migrates in between the nylon and the rubber foam to which it is affixed. The water passes the glued area and leaks into the suit.
The sealing problems are overcome by a process wherein the cover material from the inside of the diving suit is removed along the seam to expose the foam core and a foam to foam seal is created with a sealing strip.
Underwater dry suits having such cellular cores will change buoyancy at different depths. Such suits also tend to stretch and weaken the material.